Words
by Dany le fou
Summary: Between them, small words are more important than long declarations. Raki/Clare, oneshot


Disclaimer : I don't own Claymore

---

Claymores are people of few words. Their speech is most often a detached monotone meant to deliver information and nothing else. If anything, this helps reinforce their perceived inhumanity and alienate them from humans. As a result, they speak few words and receive few in return.

So it had been a surprise for Clare when a small boy engaged a conversation with her. She kept her speech short and concise, though this did little to deter him. Even after she killed the Yoma, his own brother, and left without a word, he ran after her to at least thank her.

Just two words, yet no one had said them to her since she became a warrior. Though she did not show it, those two heartfelt words caused the first twinge of humanity in her frozen heart. Maybe because of those two words, she rewarded him with the single word he had asked for, her name.

To her, her name no longer meant anything. It did not mean more to the others. Her own name had long since been replaced by the two words she was known by in the Organization. It contained the only relevant information about her : her rank, and the fact that she was the weakest warrior of her generation.

To him however, this one word soon meant everything. Regardless of her alleged power, it was the name of the strongest person he knew, and the single most important person in his life. To him, there was no Forty Seven, no half-human warrior. There was only Clare.

It was only in Rabona that she began to understand how much the monster she saw herself as meant to him. In the middle of the pain and pleasure of her near Awakening, his impassioned pleas carved the rocky path that led her back to her humanity. There was no outside help, no other warrior who synchronized with her, just the words of a weak human boy willing to die with a monster rather than live without his friend.

The impact of his words was enormous, yet she only realized it when Galk put it in six words, that she had been saved by that boy.

It was the last words they exchanged before they parted ways that helped them live through the seven years they were forced to spend apart. This promise, mere words that time would have made hollow to anyone else, kept them looking for each other all across the lands. Neither would allow themselves to die, neither would lose hope, just because of these few words, this pledge they had made to each other.

There was no time for words when they finally reunited, as both were fighting for their lives. Yet there were no lengthy speeches between them in the aftermath either, after Priscilla and the fusion of Luciella and Raphaela killed each other in a clash of titans, and Duff and Beth got the barely-alive Riful and the equally wounded Alicia away. In fact, the human spoke more as he managed to play on their respective worries for their significant others, getting through Beth's conditioning and Duff's stupidity to convince them to end the fighting for the moment, coincidentally convincing a certain survived Number Six that he was indeed insane. No, their aftermath was just a warm hug and a few unshed tears of happiness, and a simple, gentle greeting, yet it managed to carry all the pent-up emotions from seven years of separation.

They never spoke at length of what had happened in all those years, just skimming over the larger events. They never spoke of what Priscilla had been to them, one's friend and the other's archenemy, yet they supported each other through the void her death had left in them. As all it took was Raki's constant kindness and Clare's cold, silent warmth, and the small, mundane words of their everyday life as they settled back into their travels as if they had never been apart, yet sharing a closeness that none of Clare's other companions could fathom or match.

Between them, small words were more important than long declarations. This was once again proved true when he one day told her three words, three little words that no Claymore would ever expect to hear from anyone.

Three words Clare had wanted to tell Teresa all those years ago, yet had no time to.

Three words that would change everything between them from that day.

She had never thought that just three words could mean so much to her.

She was proved wrong weeks later when he once again shocked her speechless with a simple request, one that fit in just two words, yet so difficult to actually say because of the commitment they imply.

She only needed one word to answer.

---

**Author Note :** What can I say? After pretty much making Raki the luckiest bastard on Earth in my previous work, I just needed to reassert with who he truly belongs. Strangely enough, I had the ending in my head before everything else. And yes, it is deliberately vague, something I'm not too fond of, but it was intended that way from the start. Now it's up to you to guess what those words were, but I think it's pretty obvious.


End file.
